If the first thing that popped into your mind was works in the manufacture industry you're half way in. To make it easy for everyone: an industrial engineer works allocating limited resources to have a system perform in its most optimal fashion; yes it all started within the manufacture world but today IE spans a whole world of disciplines, one of them - and the matter of this post: Traffic Control.
Those who live in high automobile traffic areas have been stuck in a traffic jam too many - my fellow New Yorkers and New Jerseyans (and bordering areas) can attest to the fact. Yesterday morning as I was driving across the Goethals Bridge I couldn't help bu notice the slowness of the traffic flow at the bottom of the bridge, and how it would pick up on top of the arch; this is a phenomenon I have watched carefully not only on the bridges, but the tunnels, the seemingly always-in-repair BQE, the parking lot otherwise called the LIE, the New Jersey Turnpike, the glorious 101 in L.A. and even in the small town south of the border Nogales Sonora México. The conclusions after many observations is that traffic movement follows a mildly complex mathematical model, and the easiest way to envision it is that it acts like a spring... a slinky; that and driver behaviour is apparently universal - more on that later.
Case in point my experience at the bridge (just because it's the most recent): Once I got to the "clearing" where traffic sped up I knew I was not going to see anything identifiable as a cause for the jam, no accident, no closed lanes... nada. You all have heard the traffic report: "such and such highway with an accident cleared but the damage has been done". Examine the following chart developed by Mathematicians at the University of Exeter in the UK:
Following steps 1 through 4 you will see the dynamics of the traffic jam. The stall has been cleared and yet the jam will manifest itself ever slightly moving against the traffic direction until eventually clears out due to less cars on the road. The culprit is simply the heavy foot of 90% of the drivers out there... quickly accelerate upon seeing a clearing and slamming on the breaks upon a slowdown:
See those little red lights? seems familiar?.Human behaviour on this regard is something that no amount of analysis by itself will ever allow a solution to the problem. Poorly set city planners - which lack a good team of industrial engineers if I may interject, proclaim only one or two simple solutions - neither effective: build more/widen the existing roads OR toll the traffic (remember New York's proposed Manhattan access toll?).
As an industrial engineer I see great waste in resources with ill-conceived traffic solutions like a 12 lane wide New Jersey Turnpike, or the use of a zipper on the BQE to alternate rush hour traffic in an attempt to alleviate jams. I won't go into the politics behind those "solutions", that is better left to other venues to discuss. I will however point out a few hints to drivers everywhere, as we all are the cause with MOST impact on the traffic jams:
- Maintain a large space ahead of your car, no less than two car lenghts.
- Encourage one, two even three cars to merge ahead of you.
- If traffic slows to a complete stop, keep that two car-lenght space ahead of you!.
- Never "punish" merging drivers by closing your gap.
I find fascinating to observe the mechanics of all this, and I hope that those who read this blog and drive will take an opportunity to analyze it with a clinical eye. Maybe, as it happened to me, your behaviour will change enough to encourage others to follow the simple hints noted above - I do my own little part and I've seen others do likewise - it's easy to spot them once you train your observation senses. If we all follow suit maybe traffic jams would be the exception rather than the norm, and maybe, just maybe we can allocate the resources otherwise wasted in building bigger roads somewhere else were the need is justified.
Be sure to stop by Smart Motorist for more great driving tips.
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